1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire having a side wall section.
2. Background Information
In recent years, side walls of pneumatic tires are being made with smaller thicknesses (also called “side gauge”) in order to reduce weight and lower a rolling resistance. However, when the side gauge is reduced, a side wall surface tends to exhibit a poor external appearance. Although the poor external appearance does not have an adverse effect on the durability and the operating performance of the tire, a user may be concerned that the tire may have poor durability and operating performance.
In a forming process that is performed when a tire is manufactured, a sheet-like carcass member is wrapped around a tire forming drum, and a wrap starting end and a wrap finishing end are joined such that they partially overlap each other. Consequently, a thickness is larger at the overlapped portion, and this portion ultimately appears as an uneven portion of a sidewall surface of the tire. In a radial tire made using a single carcass member, this uneven portion is conspicuously noticeable.
A known pneumatic tire is described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-321243. This known tire is configured to prevent an unevenness that exists on a sidewall surface of a tire from being conspicuous. This know tire is also configured to prevent or suppress an occurrence of an external appearance defect at locations adjacent to a cut start and a cut finish resulting from gradual wear of a cutting edge of a cutting tool during formation of a recessed section in a mold. The pneumatic tire has a circular ornamental body on a surface of which are formed a multitude of small semispherical or substantially semispherical protrusions each having a cross sectional width and a height of 0.3 to 2 mm. The protrusions include at least two types of protrusions having different sizes. A bottom surface area of the small protrusions is 2 to 6% the size of a bottom surface area of the large protrusions.